1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to surgical procedures, more specifically to an apparatus for the removal of excess bodily fluids from the immediate surgical field during surgery, and most specifically to an apparatus for the removal of blood from the graft area during anastomosis procedures.
2. State of the Art
During surgical procedures, and particularly many delicate present-day surgical procedures requiring and unobscured view of an extremely small surgical field within the body cavity of a patient, blood leakage becomes a major visual obstruction. Suction wands, which remove fluids from the body cavity of a patient, have been well known for decades. However, suction wands cannot be placed immediately proximate the area in which the surgeon is working without obstructing his instruments, his hands and/or his vision. Moreover, suction applied in the area of a graft or other incision site being sutured may distort the tissues or even cause damage due to stresses caused by the suction on the tissue-suture interface.
In order to address the above problem, some surgical practitioners have begun connecting a conventional suction wand to a compressed air supply in the operating theatre, and blowing blood away from the wound site using this makeshift apparatus. Several problems are attendant to this approach, however. First, the air supply may be septic, and use thereof may actually introduce bacterial and viral microorganisms into the wound site, to the detriment of the patient. Second, a surgical wand does not direct the air flow for effective removal of the blood from the wound site, and the impact of the point-focused high pressure air discharge from the wand may cause trauma. Third, use of compressed air in such a manner quickly dries the tissues surrounding the wound site, requiring periodic irrigation to prevent tissue dehydration necrosis, slowing the surgical procedure. Finally, the uncontained and undirected flow of air from a suction wand may result in spattering of blood on the surgical team, an extremely hazardous consequence in view of the possibility of HIV exposure from the patient's bodily fluids.
Numerous patents disclose irrigation apparatus of the prior art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,158 discloses a pulsating type irrigation spray nozzle, the liquid being drawn by pressure applied to the exterior of a collapsible reservoir. U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,526 discloses an unpressurized manual pump and spray nozzle combination for drawing irrigation fluid from a reservoir and dispensing it on the tissue to be irrigated. The '526 patent is also noteworthy in that it teaches the prior art use of pressurized systems for dispensing a pressurized jet of air and/or fluid onto the tissue, and confirms that such a practice using devices of the prior art may result in over-irrigation of the exposed tissue, as well as tissue damage due to fluid impact.
Dental practitioners have employed syringes for supplying air, water or air and water to the mouth of the patient via the use of valves and a manifold associated with the syringe. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,757,667; 2,984,452; 3,254,646; and 4,108,178. The '667 and '452 patents also disclose the medical and female hygienic utility of such syringes. Such a syringe, which also includes the ability to provide liquid medication, alone or in combination with air, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,088.
Also known in the prior art are devices for the disposition of medication-laden warm air on the patient (Swiss Patent No. 334,130); the warming of air passing through a dental syringe (French Patent No. 1,039,005) and for the disposition of electrically-warmed air onto a body surface through a cone-shaped outlet (French Patent of Addition No. 35,067). All of the prior art devices and methodologies possess one or more major deficiencies with respect to the problem of maintaining the surgical field free from bodily fluid obstruction without deleterious effect to the patient's tissue.